00:19
Gaelle Soder
0 Comments

It's summer and the garden is full of food, even some that you might not even know! Here's one I noticed recently that we have in our backyard : elderberry. Those little berries are delicious, used a bit like you would use blueberries. One important thing before using them : apparently they would be toxic when raw, so always cook them!

They are commonly used for syrups (great when you got a cold or flu!, but taste yummi just as a cordial drink as well!), or for jams and jellies. The flowers (that you can harvest before the berries) can be used as well.

In a big bowl, mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon, sugar and oats. Add the butter and the egg, and mix with your hands. Add nuts and elderberries, but don't mix your cookie dough too much, or it would mash your berries. Spoon the mixture in little balls into your cookies sheet, prepared with baking paper. Leave a bit of space between your cookies as they will spread while cooking. Bake for 10/12 minutes.

0
comments:

Pain aux céréales / Multigrain bread

23:20
Gaelle Soder
0 Comments

There's one common big problem for french living overseas : bread. Especially for those, like me, living in british countries, where the king of bread is a rectangle loaf, already sliced, soft, full of sugar, oil, not crispy at all.... toast/sandwich bread, my ennemy. You can find 30 different kind of sandwich or toast bread at the supermarket, while in France it is the bread that we rarely use.

I've been eating it for 2 years, not that often though, but it was the cheap solution in Australia and New Zealand, where you can have a sliced sandwich bread for $1, and the baguette or some kind of better bread cost $4 or $5 at the supermarket. And I don't even want to talk about the price in a real bakery. For us, french bread lovers, it's tough.

It's been 3 months that we're living in Christchurch. Since we arrived, we didn't buy any bread. Yes, bread does take time to make, and takes a bit of organisation. But once you know how to do it, it's so much better and a lot cheaper than buying it. And you can try so many different recipes!

I've made up this one, and we love it! Quite close to a multigrain bread that I would buy in a french Bakery, a nice crispy crust and soft on the inside. ..............

Mix the milk, water, sugar and yeast in a bowl, and let it proof for 10 minutes, until it gets frothy.In a big bowl, mix the flour, salt, oats and multigrain mix, and make a yell in the centre. Stir in the honey and the yeast mixture. Mix until you get a soft dough, and turn into a floured surface, and knead for 5 minutes. Put your dough back in the bowl, cover with a teatowel and let it rest for 1 to 2 hours in a warm place.Take your dough out of the bowl, knead for a minute and form your loaf. Put it in your baking tray, and with a knife, cut slits on top of your loaf. Sprinkle a bit of flour on top, cover with a tea towel and let it rise again.Meanwhile preheat your oven at 220'C, and place a bowl of water at the bottom (steam will help to get a cripsy crust).Bake your bread for 20/25 minutes, until getting a nice golden color.

0
comments:

Chinese dumplings / petits raviolis chinois

00:24
Gaelle Soder
0 Comments

I used to live in a big international sharehouse in Melbourne for a few months. Italy, Netherlands, England, Wales, Korea, France, Argentina, Thailand, India, USA, Germany.... We were having meals all together quite often, discovering traditional food from different countries.

One of my taiwanese housemate, Alice, taught us to make dumplings one day, delicious and ridiculously simple! We made them with pork mince, but I decided to create a chicken dumplings recipe today.

Ingredients

( makes 25 to 30 dumplings)

Wonton/dumplings pastry (next time, I'll try to make it myself!)

1 chicken breast (cooked : i had a left over from a roast chicken, but you could boil or fry it!)

5 spring onions

1 small carrot

1/2 cup chinese or green cabbage

2 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp grated ginger

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp sweet chili sauce

1 tsp rice vinegar

Pepper

Grate the carrot, cut or shred the cabbage very thin, crush to garlic cloves, slice the spring onions, and your chicken breast. Mix all the ingredients together and leave to marinate in the fridge for minimum 1 hour.

Take a bowl and fill it up with water. Make your dumplings one by one, by taking one wonton/dumplings wrappers, wet the edge a little bit with your finger, and place a teaspoon of your chicken filling in the middle. Bring the bottom edge to meet the top, and press gently to make it stick together. Place your dumplings on a plate, leaving a bit of space inbetween so that they don't stick together.

Take a big pot, fill it up with water and bring it to the boil. Working in 2 or 3 batches, Put your dumplings in the water and cook them for 3 to 5 mins, until they reach the surface. Remove with a slotted spoon, and enjoy with some soy sauce or sweet chili sauce!